Peace Schools International Programme

WCIA are excited to be supporting a pan-European ERASMUS+ project cultivating development of national ‘Peace Schools’ programmes between partners in Wales, Romania, Turkey and Slovenia. The approach builds on a model piloted by Welsh Schools, but adapted to the educational contexts of multiple countries through teachers and child-centred participation, over a series of learning exchange visits. The programme aims to output a Toolkit of Practice for Peace Schools, with ‘How To’ guides and resources that can be used by teachers and students alike for developing peace schools worldwide.

Scroll down for:

  • Peace Schools programme partners and links
  • ERASMUS+ Exchange visits programme
  • Slovenia Peace Schools conference presentations, padlet links and resources
  • Developing Practice: Peace Schools Toolkit structure

Partners

Wales

Romania

  • Scoala Gimnaziala Razvad Secondary School
  • Colegiul National Constantin Carabella

Turkey

Slovenia

Project Outputs

This ambitious programme aims to produce four key outputs over the course of 2020-2023:

  1. Peace Schools Policy and Research paper
  2. Toolkit of Practice for Peace Schools
  3. Teacher Training and Handbook
  4. Evaluation tools and materials
Peace Schools exchange in Slovenia, November 2022: pupils and teachers from Wales, Turkey and Romania participate in a Peace Workshop at Maribor’s National Museum of Liberation.

Exchange Visits

Due to the COVID pandemic, many of the initially planned exchanges had to take place online until 2022, when restrictions eased sufficiently to enable visits to progress. The exchanges were at several levels:

  • TPM Transnational Project Meetings x 5, for the organisational partners to coordinate work on the exchange programme and outputs
  • LTT Learning teacher Training x 3, for teaching staff to develop training materials to ‘cascade’ to other teachers
  • Pupil Exchange Visits x 3, for school children at primary and secondary levels to participate in international learning exchanges with children from other countries and cultures
  • Multiplier Events x 4, to share Peace Schools experiences with other in-country organisations, alongside main visits.

Exchange programmes

  • Initial exchanges were done over Zoom due to COVID pandemic travel restrictions
  • Cardiff, Wales: March 2022 – Project partners meeting (TPM)
  • Konya, Turkey: June 2022 – Teacher Training and Resources development
  • Maribor, Slovenia: November 2022 – Pupil Exchange, Peace Project Presentations and Toolkit workshops
  • Romania: March 2023 – Pupil exchange and Teacher Practice
  • Wales: May 2023 – Pupil exchange and Teacher Practice / drawing project together.

Slovenia Peace Schools Conference – Records and Resources (to be moved to dedicated conference page)

ERASMUS+ Learner Exchange visit to Maribor, Slovenia, November 2022

Developing Practice: Resources

Over the months following the Slovenia Peace Schools conference, Peace Schools project partners will be producing case studies, templates and good practice examples that will be curated into a structured ‘Peace Schools Toolkit’ that will enable teachers and pupils elsewhere to develop their own peace schools schemes. These resources will be structured as follows:

Embedding Peace into your Whole School Ethos

  • Awareness Raising
  • Consultation
  • Startup Projects
  • Embedding in Schools Policy and Practice

Developing your Peace Schools scheme: Learners as Young Peacemakers

  • Electing ‘young peacemakers’
  • Developing Action Plans
  • Peer Support and Mediation
  • Peer Education and ‘Changemakers’

Learning and the Curriculum

  • Curriculum Mapping: planning relevant learning opportunities
  • Learning for Peace
  • Learning about Peace
  • Critical reflection on current world issues
  • Creative Methodologies

Intercultural and Global Learning Projects

  • Project Examples – Intercultural Learning
  • Project Examples – Taking action on peace

As good practice resources and case studies are received form each partner, these will be curated on a suite of dedicated pages (see below) that signpost teachers and pupils towards a wide range of materials they can adapt for their own contexts. The ultimate aim is to inspire creation of Peace Schools in more countries, and to develop a global learning network of Peace Schools workign together.